I still would make the same choice.

Strömsholms slott, Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden

Night of the Murdered Poets: Stalin massacres the greatest living Yiddish writers in a prison basement.

Thirteen leading Soviet Jewish intellectuals, including poets, novelists, and cultural figures, were taken to Moscow’s Lubyanka prison and executed by firing squad on Stalin’s direct orders.

They had been members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, which the Soviets used during the war to rally Jewish support against the Nazis.

Once the war was over, Stalin turned on them.

They were accused of “Zionism,” “bourgeois nationalism,” and treason. Their real crime was writing in Yiddish and maintaining a distinct Jewish cultural identity inside the Soviet empire.

Stalin destroyed the last major center of Yiddish literature in Europe.

The Night of the Murdered Poets remains one of the clearest proofs that Soviet “anti-fascism” had no problem murdering Jews once they were no longer seen as “useful.”

@usercreate october event | spooky autumn event

On July 25, 315, the magnificent Arch of Constantine was officially completed near the Colosseum in Rome. The triumphal monument celebrated Emperor Constantine I's victory over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312—a battle that changed the course of Roman history.

Rather than building everything from scratch, the arch cleverly incorporated sculptures and reliefs taken from earlier imperial monuments honoring emperors such as Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. This gave the structure an impressive appearance while also linking Constantine to some of Rome's most respected rulers.

On July 18, 1536, the English Parliament passed the Act Extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome, one of the most important pieces of legislation in the English Reformation. The act formally ended the Pope’s remaining authority in England and confirmed that King Henry VIII, rather than the papacy, was the supreme authority over the English Church.

The legislation declared papal power in England to be void, removed the Pope’s financial privileges, and legally reduced his title from “Pope” to simply the “Bishop of Rome.” It was a decisive step in Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic Church, following the earlier Act of Supremacy (1534) that recognized the king as Supreme Head of the Church of England.

On July 11, 1346, Charles IV, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, was elected King of the Romans, marking the beginning of one of the most influential reigns in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. Backed by several prince-electors and supported by Pope Clement VI, Charles was chosen as a rival to the reigning emperor, Louis IV, during a period of political division. His election laid the foundation for his eventual coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in 1355.